A terminal is an electronic device that is used to interface with various computers, such as those programmed for controlling turrets, opening safes and doors, storing information, and activating robots and other special equipment. Some terminals have been rigged as traps. The operating system of a terminal is the Unified Operating System, published by RobCo Industries. Some terminals function autonomously, like bulky laptops (e.g.: Doctor Lesko's portable terminal); while others are dumb, i.e. they use the computer mainframe which they are connected to for processing and data storage. The typical terminal has a keyboard for typing commands and a monochromatic monitor for displaying data.

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The terminals in Fallout and Fallout 2 can be used with the Scienceskill if it's high enough. In Fallout it is also possible to exploit back doors in computers to gain access, such as playing a game of 21.

Each of the three games features some interaction with a terminal and a defense system. Each game lets you deactivate any attached turret or defense system. Fallout 3 and New Vegas also feature terminals that control turret targeting: if targeting is disabled, the turret will shoot at everyone within range, not just the player.

In each game, there are more specialized version of this. For example, in Fallout 3 in the Robot Repair Center there is a terminal that can set off a pulse explosion disabling every robot in the area. There is also one in Fort Constantine that launches the fort's ICBM if the player has the Fort Constantine launch codes (the launch appears to be abortive). There is also one in SatCom Array NW-05a that allows the player to launch a nuclear strike from the Highwater Trousers orbital weapons platform, though the nukes are relatively small and there is no way to aim them (they explode harmlessly some distance from the player).

In addition, all games but in particular Fallout 3 and 4 feature terminals that can be used to open a Protectron holding container, gaining a potential ally for upcoming firefights (though the Protectron can still turn on you for various reasons, depending on the game). Fallout 4 also lets you install different personalities into the Protectron, which change its skin, dialogue, and weapon loadout.

In Fallout 4, terminals can be built at settlements in Workshop mode, as long as the player has at least 1 rank in the Hacker perk. These terminals can then be connected to other electrical objects such as lights and speakers to provide additional control options.

Terminals are commonly used to open safes, giving an alternative to lockpicking the safe. To get maximum XP, you can pick a lock first, then hack the terminal which would have unlocked it. You could also hack the terminal but not unlock the safe/door etc. before exiting and then lockpicking it.

Terminals are also sometimes used to unlock or open doors; an example is the terminal used in the Fallout 3Tenpenny Tower quest to let ghouls in from the Metro.

There are various ways of getting a password to a terminal. The two most common ways to get a password are that someone tells you the password or that you find an item describing the password, such as a holotape.

One way to deal with secured terminals is to hack them—if you can. This works only under the following conditions:

The terminal is hackable.

In Fallout 3/New Vegas: your Science skill is high enough to hack the terminal. You will need 100 in Science (base or adjusted; see below) to even attempt to hack a "very hard" terminal.

In Fallout 4: whether you have enough ranks in the Hacker perk to hack the terminal. Novice terminals can be hacked by anyone. If the player's skill isn't high enough, companion Nick Valentine can be ordered to hack the terminal instead.

Hacking a terminal yields XP, depending on the difficulty level of the terminal.

A typical hacking session on a terminal.

The hacking game is similar to Mastermind, a board game. You will be presented with a list of words, all of the same character length, interposed with random characters. The length of the words is determined by the difficulty of the lock. The number of words you get is determined by how high your Science skill is (for Fallout 3 or New Vegas) or how high your Intelligence is (for Fallout 4). One of the words is the correct password, and your goal is to guess it.

You choose a word by clicking on it. If you didn't guess correctly, the terminal will display "x/y correct" where x is the number of correct letters, and y is the word length. A letter is correct only if it is in the right spot. For example, if the password is "RELEASED" and you choose "DETECTOR" then you will be told that there are 2/8 correct because there are 'E's in the 2nd and 4th place for both. The words have other letters in common, like 'R', but it is in the first spot in one word, and the last in the other. You have four attempts to select the correct password: if you fail, in Fallout 3/New Vegas you will be permanently locked out; however, if you have the Computer Whiz perk, you will get another try. In Fallout 4, you will only temporarily be locked out, for ten seconds; the maximum rank of Hacker will remove even this lockout.

There are also things you can do with the characters that are not part of words. Clicking on matching brackets (i.e. () [] {} <>, even with other characters between, but not a whole word between) can remove a dud password or reset the number of remaining guesses to four. The brackets must be of the same type and on the same line. Although you cannot match brackets with a whole word between them, you can match brackets separated by the dots that appear when a dud word is removed ( <.......> ). Also, two or more opening brackets can be matched to a single closing bracket ("[ [ ]" on a line gives you two chances), but the opposite is not true ("[ ] ]" only gives you one chance). When you scroll across this type of entry from left-to-right, the entire entry will be highlighted letting you know if you've found one or not.

Previous choices are displayed on the right-hand side of the terminal.

To get to the hacking mini-game quickly, you can click the startup screen on the terminal to skip to the next screen. Click once more to load the hack screen instantly. (Note: in Fallout: New Vegas if you back out after your first hack attempt prior to "locking" computer, you must wait even longer for the initial key in prior to the mini-game)

There are terminals scattered around the alien ship Zeta, in the Mothership Zeta add-on. They are used by the aliens for security purposes, and with the required Science skill, ranging from 25 to 75 Science, you can hack them. There are a few choices available once hacked: Set it to blow up in a small amount of time, set a proximity charge, and unlock the door. These terminals can also be destroyed.

If triggered by activating the keyboard, the terminal will become electrified (not harming the player), and then the rigged frag grenade will detonate.

A trapped terminal has a broken rear, and a small antenna on the back, sending or receiving from an unknown location; see picture to the right. Also, all terminals with traps on them are plainly called "terminal," as with the normal "Click/press 'A'/'X' to Activate terminal."

Disarming a trapped terminal demands an Explosives skill of 45. In New Vegas, it requires a skill of 60. It is disarmed by activating the rear of the terminal rather than the front.

A frag grenade was used to create the trap, and you will get the one used to rig the terminal when you disarm it.

After disarming, these terminals cannot be used for anything except re-arming with any type of grenade, a fruitless gesture since it is not a trap any non-player character could spring. It is not possible to use these terminals for informational purposes.

Some terminal areas would suggest that the terminal has not been tampered with since pre-War times. Despite this, some password options will be "deathclaw" or some other select creatures in the Wastelands that have obviously come about through intense radiation exposure, this of course primarily being post-war, (The government did create a small number of deathclaws in secret) mutating them into what we see in Fallout. Therefore, obviously, making it highly unlikely for any civilian living during pre-War times to know what a deathclaw, or any creature for that matter, actually is.

Misspelt words occur multiple times across Fallout 3, New Vegas and 4. Average-difficulty Consoles in "Fallout: New Vegas" contain at least two of the few misspellings, that being "LEUTENANT," instead of the correct "Lieutenant" and "CONQUORER" instead of the correct "Conqueror". The word Lieutenant is also misspelt again in "Fallout 4", once more appearing as "LEUTENANT" upon Expert-difficulty terminals.

When selecting a bracketed quote to replenish your allowance or remove a dud, if there is only one selectable word left, it will have no effect and simply say, "Entry Denied."

As gameplay is completely stopped when you are hacking a terminal you can take the time out of gameplay to write all the choices down and compare the letters to figure out what is the correct choice. It is recommended to use at least one choice before doing this so you have a frame of reference.

If blood is splattered on a terminal, when you activate it, there will be a dark red box around the text that initially comes down.

In Fallout 4 an option "GURPS" can be found while hacking a terminal, which can be a reference to a Generic Universal RolePlaying System, that was planned to be used in the original Fallout but was replaced by SPECIAL system.

Unlike in 3 or New Vegas, clicking a dud in Fallout 4 doesn't remove a chance from your allowance.